Saturday 3 & Sunday 4 October, 2 - 5pm BST: Bookbinding with Fabric with Charlotte Wainwright

Online Workshop with Charlotte Wainwright

Saturday 3 & Sunday 4 October, 2 - 5pm BST (British Summer Time)

This workshop is sold out. To join the waitlist for a workshop on Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 November 2026, please email events@selvedge.org.

Charlotte Wainwright is a creative bookbinder, marbling artist and visual content creator whose practice combines traditional craft, design and visual storytelling. She works across a wide range of projects, producing exclusive hand-marbled products for galleries and shops, branded notebooks for special events, and one-off bespoke bindings, boxes and binders. Alongside this, she undertakes the careful hand restoration of existing bindings, bringing new life to well-loved books. Her work is defined by meticulous craftsmanship, an experimental approach to surface and form and a sensitivity to the narrative held within each object. Wainwright discovered her love of bookbinding while studying for a BA in Graphic Design at Central Saint Martins in London. More than a decade later she continues to refine and expand her skills. She runs her studio in Walthamstow, East London, where she produces both commissioned and self-initiated work. A particular fascination with the mathematics and structural logic of box-making informs much of her practice, as does her enjoyment of working with unexpected covering materials such as wallpaper and distinctive fabrics, pushing traditional techniques in subtle and contemporary ways. Creating video content is an integral part of Wainwright’s creative process. Through short-form videos, she documents and shares the making journey behind many of her projects, celebrating the transformation of paper, board, glue, and cloth into finely crafted objects. Wainwright has worked on projects for a range of cultural institutions and brands, including Liberty London, Tate, the Saatchi Gallery, the Wallace Collection, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the BBC.

Workshop Description
Delivered over two live online sessions of three hours each, this hands-on workshop offers participants a comprehensive introduction to traditional hardback case-binding using fabric. Guided step by step, participants will learn how to sew folded signatures into a notebook, prepare and shape a book block, and construct a durable hardback case-binding. A key focus of the workshop is learning how to transform cotton fabric into bookcloth, ready to be glued and assembled into a finished cover.

The course also covers a range of finishing techniques, including making contrast fabric endbands and adding a marker ribbon, allowing participants to personalise their binding while gaining a deeper understanding of book structure and design. Throughout the workshop, Charlotte Wainwright will demonstrate each stage clearly, explaining not only how the techniques are carried out but also the reasoning behind material choices and construction methods.

Wainwright is a highly skilled and experienced bookbinder who leads the sessions at an accessible and supportive pace, making the workshop suitable for beginners as well as those looking to refresh or build on existing skills. Upon purchasing a place on the course, participants will receive a carefully curated material pack containing all the tools and materials required to complete a fabric-covered hardback binding during the live sessions.

Included in Your Material Pack:

• Patterned heavy cotton fabric for book cover. (Also welcome to bring your own)
• A bone folder
• Paper for the pages of the book
• Heavier weight paper to line fabric for covering
• Heavier weight paper to use for endpapers
• Linen to line the spine
• Grey board cut to size for the covering boards
• A pot of bookbinding PVA glue
• A brush
• A needle for sewing the sections
• Pricking guide
• Sewing thread
• A cord to construct the endband
• Marker ribbon
• Baking paper for barrier sheets
  

Additional Materials to Bring:

• Additional selection of cotton fabrics, not too thin, you might want to use for covering your book + back-up pieces in case any mistakes are made. Cut carefully to exactly 27.5cm x 19cm.
• Waste paper for gluing onto. Approx 10+ sheets to hand. E.g. pages of a magazine. Or plain A4 paper. (Not newspaper as ink may run).
• A paper weight to hold book in place whilst sewing. E.g. a tin of beans or bag of sugar.
• Apron or cloth to wipe gluey fingers.
• Scissors.
• A stack of heavy hardback books to use as your book-press whilst it dries.
  

Level
No experience is necessary, all levels are welcome.

Please Note: Material packs are shipped on an insured, trackable delivery service. Any customs duties, delays, lost or undeliverable packages are the responsibility of the customer. Once a material pack leaves the workshop tutors' hands with a tracking number, the seller has no further obligation to the buyer.

If we reach capacity, we may close bookings. Be mindful that we must close bookings at least 3 weeks before the workshop, in order to ship material packs. Book now to avoid disappointment.

Location
This is an online event. A Zoom link will be sent to participants the week before the workshop.

Recording
This workshop will be recorded, and a link to the recording will be emailed to all participants. Please allow 7 working days for us to send you the recording.



Cancellation Policy

All places reserved for workshops are non-refundable. 

If you require additional information about this workshop please contact events@selvedge.org.

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